The New Jersey sports betting industry got it so right – almost. With one exception their major pre-event favourites all won Oscars at Sunday night’s 92nd Academy Awards.
The exception was for best Motion Picture which went to Parasite, a Korean comedy-drama that made movie history. It was the first Foreign (now called International) film to win Best Motion Picture. It also won Best Original Screenplay and was the first non-English language movie with sub-titles to do so.
In addition, Bong Joon-ho’s satire about an impoverished family infiltrating a wealthy Korean home, also won for him Best Director.
Even with ‘Parasite’, however, the New Jersey bookies almost got it right. They saw it as being second only to their best Motion Picture favourite, the First World War movie, ‘1917’.
The late odds on Parasite were +200
Shortly before the Oscars began in Los Angeles, Parasite was being quoted at odds of +200 as against -155 for 1917.
Other films that were nominated were ‘Once Upon a Time in America (+900), Joker (+1200), The Irishman (+6600) and JoJo Rabbit +8000.
For the rest of the awards that matter most to the public, it was the NJ Sportsbook favourites in a predictable Academy Award season that ruled the roost.
Here they are (with the movies they featured in and their closing odds):
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix for ‘Joker’ (+500)
Best Actress: Rene Zellweger for ‘Judy’ (-250)
Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt for ‘Once upon a time in America (-3335)
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern in ‘Marriage Story’ (-2500).
Screen Actors Guild also chose Parasite
The Screen Actors Guild Awards, annually held three weeks ahead of the Oscars, has often been held up as the best litmus paper pointer to Oscar winners. This was certainly the case with Parasite.
It joined Spotlight (2015), Birdman (2014) Argo (2012) and The Kings Speech (2010) in winning both awards
Bong paid tribute to Scorsese, saying that when he was young, he (Scorsese) “carved deep into my heart”. He then quoted Scorsese as famously saying: “The most personal is the most creative.”
He also thanked Tarantino for championing his work: “Quentin, I love you,” he said.